From the Heart
by RadiantBeam
Summary: Music comes from the heart, because sometimes it's the only way to put our feelings into words. ::Zakuro x Mint:: ::One-shot, iPod challenge::


Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew or the songs used.

Author's Note: I've already done this four times for different fandoms, but I'll repeat myself: this was written for the iPod shuffle challenge. The challenge is to put your iPod on shuffle, write a drabble for the first 10 songs you hear, and finish the drabble before the song ends.

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**From the Heart**

**01. If I Never Knew You – Alan Menken**

Before becoming a Mew, Zakuro remembered being alone. She'd been alone a lot. Not even Mint had been alone the way she'd been—at least Mint had an elderly maid who loved her, an older brother.

And then Zakuro had become a Mew, and she'd met the other Mews. And she wasn't alone anymore. She gravitated to Mint naturally, though she never showed it; the younger girl reminded Zakuro a lot of herself, and sometimes Zakuro wondered if she would have been the way Mint was now, if she'd had friends at an earlier age.

Then a new enemy had come and stolen Mint away, in a rainy night washed with red and heavy with the scent of fresh blood. Zakuro never saw her again.

Ryou and Keiichiro frowned on her hunt for Mint's killer, but she ignored them. She ignored Ichigo's pleas and Pudding's jokes, she ignored Lettuce's timid questions. She knew finding the person who had killed Mint wouldn't bring her back, but she needed to do it. She needed to do it the way she'd never needed anything before.

Now Zakuro was alone again. Alone with memories.

They hurt, but at least they reminded Zakuro that once, a long time ago, someone had loved her.

**02. Aozora no Namida – Takahashi Hitomi**

"Mint, may I ask you a question?"

The black-haired girl only nodded, her face buried against Zakuro's shoulder as she tried her best to tune out the horror film flickering on the screen. Pudding was leaning forward eagerly, crying out to the characters destined to fall prey to the slasher onscreen. Lettuce and Ichigo both looked a little pale, but they were holding their own. Just barely by the look of it, but whatever.

Mindlessly, Zakuro lifted her hand and gently ran it through Mint's hair, one eye on the screen and another on her charge. "Why do you watch these kinds of movies if they always scare you like this?" the wolf girl asked.

Mint shuddered as a scream ripped through the air, and when she spoke her voice was muffled by Zakuro's jacket. "I don't know! Ichigo talked me into it!!"

Zakuro chuckled quietly and turned her attention fully to the movie, but her ears, sharpened by her wolf senses, heard the soft words that followed Mint's initial response.

"And when I'm scared like this, I know you'll protect me, Oneesama."

**03. Yours to Hold – Skillet**

Mint was rather proud of the fact that she was the only one who could touch Zakuro and not get a cold look or an icy word.

It still stunned and touched her sometimes, how much the older girl had come to trust her over the years; so much so that she hadn't complained when Mint had first awkwardly hugged her, once a long time ago after meeting with her parents again. In fact, she seemed to have developed a fondness for the sensation and now went out of her way to get into Mint's arms whenever given an opportunity that wouldn't ruin her reputation.

Most romances didn't develop this way, but then, they weren't most people.

Zakuro still hadn't touched Mint yet, save that awkward hands-on-shoulders thing back when the aliens had invaded. But she was getting more and more courageous—she was starting to hold Mint's hand now.

Mint figured it was only a matter of time. She liked touching Zakuro, but being touched by the older girl was just as nice.

**04. The Math – Hilary Duff**

Zakuro was never one to take time to figure things out; it annoyed her how something simple could be warped into a complicated problem just because someone was trying to explain it perfectly, so she never did it.

Her opinion didn't change even when she finally pulled Mint aside and confessed—she was blunt about her feelings and honest, and perhaps just a little rough. She wondered if Mint, being the way she was, would make a complicated mess out of the whole thing.

The oldest Mew was immensely relieved—and perhaps a little surprised—to discover that when it came down to the heart of things, Mint's thinking was just like hers.

**05. Rockstar – Nickelback**

Mint knew early on that she would never be as famous as Zakuro was; she was secretly grateful for it, honestly. She loved Zakuro and she loved the spotlight, but she was quite happy with her life as a ballerina and the small, devoted gathering she'd gained from that.

From being with Zakuro, she knew the press could be brutal; the older girl was constantly watched and asked questions, poked and prodded like she was some kind of animal on display. The price of being a big star, Mint mused, and gave Zakuro all her support.

The day Zakuro finally snapped, it was during a frantic questioning for her latest movie. Mint had turned the television on to listen in the background as she went around the house, and the question had been if Zakuro was actually _dating _the black-haired young woman she was always seen with.

That did it.

"Oh, _no_, we just kiss and hold hands because we're long lost cousins," the purple-haired woman snarled, losing her world famous cool for the first time. "Of course I'm _dating _her, and I'll have you know we're both happy!"

Mint grinned like a fool for the rest of the day.

Surprisingly, after that little outburst, Zakuro's popularity only increased.

**06. Two Worlds – Phil Collins**

At first Zakuro had hated her new powers. She'd hated being a Mew, and she'd hated her new sharpened senses and her new speed and strength, and she hated how she could transform into something like a wolf.

She was already an outcast, and this just made things worse.

And then she met the others: Ichigo and Lettuce and Pudding. Girls like her.

And Mint. The little bird of the group, the one who balanced a life of wealth with her time as a hero and her love for her friends.

Suddenly, Zakuro no longer hated her powers. In fact, she came to love them.

**07. One Last Breath – Creed**

"What do you mean she isn't breathing?!"

Pudding flinched slightly at Zakuro's raised tone, looking back down worriedly at a motionless Mint. "But it's true na no da! Mint-oneechan was pulled out of the water after being knocked in by those big alien bullies, but…" Pudding bit her lip. "Pudding can't feel her breathing. She can't even hear her heartbeat."

Zakuro felt a surge of panic and clamped down on it fiercely, leaning over her unconscious comrade. If death was fresh, it wasn't too late to save Mint. "Pudding, go and find Ichigo and Lettuce, understand? Tell them we have a problem. I'll try and revive Mint."

A flash of yellow announced Pudding's departure, but Zakuro ignored her shout and focused on trying to save Mint, applying the CPR techniques she'd learned only a short time ago in class.

"You can't die now, dammit," the wolf Mew whispered raggedly as Mint lay motionless beneath her ministrations. "You can't. I won't let you. We've been through too much for you to die like this!" The tears started to fall without her realizing it.

Mint coughed weakly, and Zakuro wept.

**08. Breakaway – Kelly Clarkson**

It hadn't been easy for Mint to leave Japan; saying goodbye to people she loved like family hurt like hell, but she knew she had to do it.

Zakuro had been the only one to keep silent, to not shed tears when the bird Mew came to the café for the last time to bid her farewells. But when Mint had gone to her and said a very formal goodbye, giving a respectful bow, the older girl had almost seemed to growl before grabbing her arm and yanking her into a tight hug.

It had stunned and shaken the younger girl to be held like that, as if she was the center of someone's universe. And when Zakuro had let go, she had lingered for a moment longer than necessary, quietly fussing over Mint in her own way.

Going to America was hard, but Mint knew she had to do it. She had to prove herself, had to prove she could live on her own and build her own life.

Zakuro knew it, too. But letting her go still hurt, and even now the wound ached.

**09. How To Save A Life – The Fray**

Zakuro watched over Mint, and cared for her a little more than she cared for the other Mews. Not that she didn't love all of them; she did, in her own kind of way, and most of the time she was pretty sure they knew that.

But Mint was different from the others.

Mint was so much like Zakuro had been—young, quiet. True, she was starting to come out of her shell, she was changing, but Zakuro still saw too much of herself in the younger girl. And she didn't want Mint to be like her.

So Zakuro watched over Mint. She cared for her from afar, pushing the girl and sometimes bullying her, but she continued watching over her.

She didn't want Mint to be like her.

She hadn't been able to save herself, and she could never change what had happened in the past. But she could prevent Mint from following in her footsteps.

It was enough.

**10. I Told You So – Carrie Underwood**

Mint lost track of the number of times she'd pined over Zakuro; certainly it had gone on for years, her one-sided love, its roots going back to when she'd been thirteen and become a Mew.

Zakuro mystified and confused the younger Mew, and even to this day Mint figured she didn't really understand her. But she loved her. Or had loved her. She knew she loved the older girl, but from all indications Zakuro had no idea of her feelings and certainly didn't seem to return them in any way.

She missed the quiet longing looks the wolf Mew sometimes looked at her, the way she reached out but always pulled back at the last instant, not touching the younger girl. Zakuro had learned to hide her emotions, and she hid them well.

Kisshu wasn't Zakuro, but he loved Mint, and it was a true, honest love that he hadn't felt for Ichigo. He was persistent but gentle in his approach, and in time Mint couldn't stop herself from returning his feelings. Being in love had been wonderful, but having her feelings returned was even better.

When Kisshu kissed Mint in the café, Zakuro's eyes went blank.

**The End**

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Okay, yes, I have a weakness for Kisshu/Mint. Hence the last drabble.

Read and review, please!


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